Mutriku...and something a little more...

Yesterday we decided to take a day trip to Mutriku, a short less >1hr drive to the Northern Coast of the Gizpukoa providence of Spain. We had desired to spend a day on the beach and enjoy one of our last free weekends during the last bit of warm weather. I found it ironic that while we were enjoying 82 degree sunshine, our hometown was in the throes of its first major coldsnap, with temps around freezing and snow in the forecast ;). I enjoyed being here...instead of there....in spite of missing out on our annual family tradition of homemade spudnuts for the first snow of the season. So the Big Daddy fryer will just have to sit in the garage for another year ;). We're in Basque Country.

lots of stone in the region

Okay this was a funny part because Beloved thought I said "Wow look at that bi#ch!" Noooo...bridge! 

Coastline

tense conversation ensues between Beloved and our Doe she insisted that he needed to drive through the archway to get to the beach and he refused. Beloved has been an excellent navigator so far on this journey, but as of this instance he was wrong...

Hey look we're driving under an arch! 

Lots and lots and LOTS of dogs in Spain. LOTS of dogs in Spain. Cats not so much.

cool infinity swimming pool

Kids and the Mutriku breakwater, a revolutionary water-powered turbine power plant . It was started in June of 2011. 

Thank you, Wikipedia, we had no idea what this was. I thought it was built to protect the bay's fishing boats from rogue waves.

My daughters scrambling out of the infinity pool...it was quite cold but clear. 

On top of the breakwater

Cathedral 

love the blue and the timberframe

Hey Senor watching us from the window

Mutriku was charming and small, with lots of stonework and timbers and stucco. But while the beach was a lovely little day trip.... and I found a perfect teardrop of beach glass...

The real excitement of our journey started when we tried to find an open grocery store for lunch. We wandered up behind a collection of houses and found a parking lot...but no grocery store. I got the attention of an old man watching us from his apartment balcony and asked "Donde esta mercado? " and he replied "Uno mercado, Senora, pero esta cerrado Sabado". So we had no place to find lunch in town. We kind of prefer to do the grocery store route during the day and save our funds for a later meal, if we so choose. So we decided that we would head back to the car and drive back home, finding someplace to eat on the way.

Here's The Story of Rosa Vida and How She Fell into a Rose bush and Into Our Hearts

As we were walking back down the stairs to our car, I heard a pealing shriek of a cry. It was piercing loud and I said "What is that? Did you hear that?" and just as I said "I think that's a kitten!" Doe stopped, pivoted around and started searching for it. I swear, if she was a dog, the girl would be a bloodhound. She is a fierce investigator. We stood and listened and discovered it was on the ledge terrace above from the stairs. So Doe took action. She shimmed up the lightpole even as the words "Careful there are roses in that bush that have huge thorns, Doe" were leaving my mouth.

It's a kitten! 

Oh my gosh Mom she is all alone by herself  and she's buried in these roses

Oh Mom

How can you say No to either of those faces? 

Please Dad

Please Dad I *promise*...we can't just LEAVE her here alone! 

How can you say No without even seeing her face, Dad? You HAVE to see her face! 

Okay we are just going to take her back home with us and care for her there....her eyes crusted shut and she was so dirty...we knew she'd been abandoned

Well if we are going to help her we have to at least name her. Something Spanish. After a little discussion we decided on Rosa Vida Olsen (Rose Life)

In the car she started mewling fiercely. After a quick stop at the gas station we gave her very small bits of tuna fish sandwich. 

She was famished and would bite Doe's fingers when the food was gone and ate for a good 10 minutes. 

Then she slept. 

We don't know what to do. Rosie survived the night, which I was not sure she would. She is covered in small black fleas and a Facebook friend, who is also a veterinarian, suggested that we keep her very warm and not to allow her to get chilled, so we have avoided giving her another dips or baths, and the drops we were about 20 euros a bottle, which Beloved balked at.  So yes we bought a wicked flea collar and cut it down about the size of a thimble. So my loving and committed daughter Doe has taken it upon herself to sit with Rosie and painstakingly kill each flea she sees on Rosie.
After looking at the pictures I sent her my friend Dr. Mani  is saying that Rosie is about 5 weeks old. She is eating kitten 'mousse' like a champ, but is struggling with getting water and we haven't been able to find an eye dropper today. All the farmacias are closed on Sunday :P. SO we have been soaking washcloths with water and letting her suck on them. She loves to suck on our fingers, especially if they have a bit of food on them :).

This afternoon we went to a Caja Laboral basketball game, and were gone from the apartment for three hours. We came home and Rosie had climbed out of the open suitcase we had placed her and her food in, and was sleeping against the pillow. She was very weak in her cry but when we set a plate of food on the bed to spoonfeed her with she said "Screw that" and crawled onto the plate. Ate all of the food she could ingest spread-eagled on the plate.

The story continues...if the apartment lets us keep her...then whose to say what will happen. Rosa Vida is a fighter, and a life like hers deserves all the chances she can get.
My God is mighty to Save

"You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you." (Nehemiah 9:6

Gracias tanto por su ayuda Clinica Veterinaria Andia para tomar nuestro Rosavida poco y para ayudarla a encontrar un nuevo hogar. Estamos siempre en su deuda!♥